Seattle Local News: Major Development in West Seattle

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Community, congestion, development, employees, employers, Planning, Seattle, Sustainability, Union, Weingarten, West Seattle, Whole Foods

West Seattle is facing a large development proposal in the “West Seattle Triangle,” the gateway into West Seattle from the West Seattle Bridge. The project, at the intersection of Alaska Way and Fauntleroy Way SW, seeks to build a number of apartment units and a few small shops in addition to its primary aim, to create a large Whole Foods store. Some community groups disapprove of the proposed plans citing pedestrian/cyclist safety and traffic congestion as major concerns (among others).

Design overview as presented in a report to the Seattle Design Commission.

Some opposition is based on the idea of responsible development that clearly benefits the community, something they say developer Weingarten Realty is not doing with its current plan. And the whole concept of Whole Foods is another concern – bringing in large corporations with less-than-ideal employment conditions. Read more about this from one opposing organization, Getting It Right For West Seattle. Here is a sample of its perspective:

Weingarten is proposing to bring to West Seattle a national chain grocer, Whole Foods, which is notoriously anti-union and undermines the good union-scale jobs currently in the area with 6 of the 7 existing grocers within 1.5 miles offering union wage scales, health care benefits and retirement security. On top of that, their
proposal packages Whole Foods in the largest mixed-use retail development in the history of West Seattle with a mega-development inviting multiple, dangerous intersections of pedestrians, cars, and multiple delivery and
garbage trucks…

Better Place’s Failure Is Blow to Renault | WSJ.com

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Better Place, CO2, Denmark, Electric Car, EV, Fluence, Renault, Sustainability

Two and a half years ago (I cannot believe it was so long ago!) I visited Better Place while studying in Denmark. My friends and I received a tour of the Renault Fluence Z.E.,  an overview of the systems and concept behind the battery-transfer, and even our first drive of an all-electric vehicle. I remember well my thrill over the quiet power of the electric engine and my excitement for the possibility of a large network of electric vehicles.

After all, who better than the Danish to make it happen? Denmark has everything the United States lacks – a sustainability-minded policy framework for support, a progressive taxation system for financial leverage, wind energy for grid integration, and an aggressive national goal to reduce CO2 emissions and increase renewable energy generation mainly through wind power. Unfortunately for Better Place, things did not work out as planned.

Last May Better Place finally fell apart. It seems this outcome was more a result of poor strategy than an indication that electric vehicles would not compete. Luckily, the Danish Energy Authority is continuing to work on electric vehicles in Denmark. For me, the question that remains is this: did Better Place’s battery-swap concept go with the company to the graveyard?

Better Place’s Failure Is Blow to Renault – WSJ.com.
http://www.ens.dk/klima-co2/transport/elbiler (In Danish – get a browser to translate for you)

Renewable Electricity in Seattle

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City Light, EIA, Green, Hydroelectric, hydropower, Renewable Energy, Seattle, Sustainability, University of Washington

In the united States the national average for renewable energy as a share of electricity generation is somewhere around 12%.  Of this portion, 56% is hydropower and followed by wind (28%), biomass wood (8%), biomass waste (4%), geothermal (3%), and solar (1%). In Seattle, a whopping 94% of electricity is generated from renewable resources! Of this, almost 90% comes from hydropower while another 4% comes from wind. Coal and natural gas have almost no place in the energy mix while Nuclear is still a non-negligible source of baseload energy.

Fuel mix for the City of Seattle.

The University of Washington has put together an informative infographic about how energy is broken down on campus. While not a UW student, a lot of this information is relevant to the greater Seattle population. Pretty cool, huh?

A snapshot of the UW infographic. Click for the full document.

 

My Ecological Footprint: A Longitudinal Comparison

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carbon footprint, Climate, ecological footprint, Environment, Green, Health, Sustainability, Transportation

On Monday I discussed my ecological footprint as it stands from my current lifestyle in Seattle. However, I first learned about the ecological foot print in high school and have taken the same quiz a number of times since then. Unfortunately, I do not have my results from high school but I can compare to my freshman, sophomore, and junior years. My junior year is interesting because it considers two lifestyles, that of my home life and that of my life in Denmark. Let’s look at the results.

Over the years the number of Earths required to support my lifestyle if every person lived as I do have fluctuated:

• Spring, 2010, College: 6.59 Earths
• Spring 2011, College: 6.35 Earths
• Fall 2011, Home: 5.89 Earths
• Fall 2011, Denmark: 2.72 Earths
• Fall 2013, Seattle: 2.76 Earths

Clearly, college has impacted my footprint by making me more aware of the impact of my lifestyle. Equally important though is accessibility: Denmark and Seattle make it very easy to access resources that make a more sustainable lifestyle: public transit, short travel distances (walk-able and ride-able), high density/efficiency housing, access to affordable, local, and sustainable food sources. When it comes down to it there is simply no way I could ever get my footprint down to Seattle levels if I lived at home. Visiting a friend by bike would take hours and the bus is not much better. Where you live does make a huge difference in how sustainable you can be.

Comparing Spring 2011 and Fall 2013 (I saved more specific data for these quiz results) shows dramatic differences in categories. Unfortunately I have limited data availability from years ago, so I can only give general comparisons:

• My carbon footprint shrank from 30% of my footprint to just above 7%. This brought me from about half the national average to almost a tenth the average. This is almost entirely attributable to cuts in vehicle travel, down to about 500 miles always with friends from 8,000 miles sometimes with friends. Not traveling back and forth to school and using public transit/carpooling to visit friends makes a huge difference, even if I added more air travel (flying home for the holidays).
• My food footprint actually increased from just under 59% of my footprint to just over 61%. Looks like no improvement, right? Wrong. In 2011 my footprint was 144% the national average, now it is on par with the average American. Cutting out meat goes a long way! Now I just need to work on more local and sustainable options.
• My housing footprint really had a negligible change. Living in a large apartment complex (or dorm) keeps footprints low by pooling resources, limiting land use, increasing energy efficiency. The list continues.
• My goods and services footprint increased quite a bit since 2011, jumping from about 2% of my footprint up to almost a third. Dorms and apartments are both pretty sustainable, but living in the real world means i have to provide my own things! Needing more household items increases my expense on goods and services, and moving across the country with only a duffel bag and backpack don’t exactly make it easy to use things I already had.

Overall, my footprint has shrunk dramatically. The is primarily for two reasons: less travel in private vehicles and more attention focused on a sustainable diet. As my results show, changing your footprint is not always easy. I was only able to dramatically reduce my carbon footprint because I moved to the city. On the other hand, altering my diet was a conscious decision that has lessened my environmental impact and fattened my wallet at the same time.

Readers, I challenge you to investigate your environmental impact. Take a quiz, do some reading, and consider how your lifestyle affects the planet. Then change it, for the good of the planet, for your wallet, and for your health. You don’t have to give up everything – small changes can go a long way. You may even discover that simple changes will begin to improve your quality of life – walking to the store will save carbon but it will also make you healthier and give you an opportunity to de-stress and ponder!

Some resources:

Global Footprint Network

Ecological Footprint – Center for Sustainable Economy

World Centric: Eco-Footprint

Ecological Footprints and Carrying Capacity: Measuring our Impact – University of Colorado at Boulder.

My Ecological Footprint: Seattle

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carbon footprint, ecological footprint, Environment, Green, Health, lifestyle, Sustainability

Living in Seattle is very different from living in Gettysburg or at home in many ways, one of which is how my lifestyle impacts my environment. For one, I almost never use a car: with the exception of trips with friends I am always on either a bus or a bike. I don’t even own a car here! I also live in a small apartment, enjoy the benefits of density, and recently learned that a huge proportion of Seattle’s electricity comes from renewable sources! (More on that Friday) I decided to check out my ecological footprint at http://myfootprint.org to get an idea of how my new lifestyle impacts the planet.

So, how did I do? Well, I will not say “good” because it really is not – but compared to the American average, I am doing pretty damn well. According to this particular survey, my ecological footprint would require approximately 2.76 Earths if every person were to live as I do. The national average is closer to 5 Earths.

I am very proud of how my travel habits dramatically reduce my carbon footprint relative to the average American. It helps not owning a car – when i feel too lazy to bike I either stay home or take the bus. There is no convenient fall-back option. Unfortunately this does have mobility consequences, but the trade-off (including huge $$$ savings), are more than worth it.

Housing and goods and services are predictable. I live in a small apartment and use a number of energy-saving habits. I’d love to improve by adding things like low-flow shower heads and composting more, but living with a roommate implies some compromise. Goods and services is interesting relative to the national average, I am doing very well. This is largely because I am frugal and mostly buy things secondhand. However, even answering at maximum sustainability for 7/9 questions and mid-range for two questions, my goods and services footprint is still large. That is the quiz factoring in the American way – the range of scores possible are determined simply by your home country.

Food is my weakest link. As with every other category, I do not think that this survey accurately reflects my actual lifestyle. I am a “home vegetarian,” meaning I do not eat meat at home (there could be some exceptions, but so far I’ve stayed true). I do this for a variety of reasons, the main being it is economical and far more sustainable than eating meat regularly. However, I cannot give up dairy – milk/yogurt is a breakfast staple and I LOVE CHEESE!

So, overall not bad. I knew I would never fall under 1 Earth and it may not even be possible on this particular quiz if you live in America. Despite the many shortcomings of simple attempts to measure my footprint they still have educational value. I already knew food would be my biggest area of improvement and this quiz helped remind me to focus more on locally grown and organic foods in addition to cutting out meat. Check back Wednesday to see how this footprint compares to the same quiz taken freshman year in college and in Denmark.

Making Food From Flies (It’s Not That Icky) : The Salt : NPR

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compost, Environment, Food, NPR, soldier flies, Sustainability, technology

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts lately, both daily news segments and more interesting pieces like “Brainstuff” from Howstuffworks.com. While listening to an NPR environmental podcast I found this interesting tidbit on using flies to increase composting and provide feed for fish farming.

Making Food From Flies (It’s Not That Icky) : The Salt : NPR.

Have I Wasted College?

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Activism, College, endowment, Gettysburg College, Sustainability

So an hour or two ago a friend asked me to look at the summary she was writing for her Linkedin profile because she thought my summary was pretty good.  I looked it over and realized I needed to update my own.  That got me on Linkedin looking things over, and I found this new “projects” section.  So I decided to add the carpool board I created to my profile.  It is not really a “big” project, but it is something I am passionate about and I think it shows initiative.  Then I thought some more and decided to add this “Campaign for Endowment Transparency” I did as a freshman.  Which got me thinking….have I been wasting my time at college?

The campaign I am talking about is this project I did in the fall of 2009 as part of my freshman seminar.  To summarize briefly, we did a lot of research on the transparency of peer institutions’ endowment and financial operations.  This came out of a bad grade we received on the Green Report Card (an initiative by the Sustainable Endowments Institute).  Our goal was simply to learn the material and bring it to the attention of the administration.  Ultimately we hoped it would lead to the establishment of a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) committee.

The project was interesting, and I learned so much from it.  Probably more than all my classes that semester combined.  But between the lack of student support and my own limited interest in the cause I did not pursue further projects.  What I realize now is that I really wish I would have undertaken more initiatives like this.  College is one of those rare times in life that you not only have the freedom to criticize your institution and take on any challenges you like, but also the resources and time to do it.  As I look back I wonder what my experience would have been like if, after finishing the endowment project, I would have picked up another initiative closer to my heart.

I would never actually say I have wasted my college experience.  A lot of great things have come from it, such as my new-found love for sustainable transportation.  The thing is, sometimes I get too caught up with classes and what I “need” to do.   I  earned straight A’s, with few exceptions, for 7 semesters.

But at what cost?

 

An Uphill Battle

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College, Environment, Recycling, Responsibility, single-stream, students, Sustainability

If the students in the Environmental Studies department at a liberal institution cannot be bothered to take the time to consciously recycle, how can we expect the rest of the world to do it?  And recycling is just the tip of the iceberg.  We have single-stream here.  It is a complete no-brainer…

Short Study Tour: Ærø Island, Denmark

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Aero, Danes, Denmark, Marstal, Sustainability

This gallery contains 15 photos.

I realize I forgot to blog about this trip, and now that I am about two weeks late I don’t …

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